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🎄 It’s time to dust off the cobwebs and get the Advent Calendar House ready for Season 2, featuring a new episode every day from December 1 through Christmas Eve, 2018.  In between commercial teasers for all 24 episodes coming in Season 2 (though not necessarily in order) the members of the all-new Christmas Podcast Network share stories of Christmas music traditions:  ****  🎙 Guests:  Brian Earl (Christmas Past)  Tim Babb (Can’t Wait for Christmas)  Craig Kringle (Weird Christmas)  Duane Bailey (Tinsel Tunes)  Joseph Wade (Christmas Creeps), with Libby Cudmore  Anthony Caruso, Julia Colburn, and Thom Crowe (Tis the Podcast)  ****  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 

🎄 It’s time once again to count down to Christmas Eve, starting with 3 versions of Dr. Seuss’s classic Christmas tale from 1966, 2000, and 2018.  🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May drop by as all 3 Mikes compare and contrast 3 very different Grinches.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.,” Dr. Seuss’s first — and last — feature film screenplay.  DiGio discovers Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice behind “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” was also Tony the Tiger.  Grinchmas, the annual Christmas celebration at Universal Studios Hollywood and Islands of Adventure in Orlando.  “How Murray Saved Christmas,” a 2014 animated TV special starring Jerry Stiller that just made my to-do list.  “The Muppet Christmas Carol” on Sleigh Bell Cinema.  ****  “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” © 1966 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.  “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” © 2000 LUNI Productions GmbH & Co. KG.  “The Grinch” © 2018 Universal Studios.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1960s #2000s #2010s #drseuss

💫 Get ready to blast off for space church as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special!  🎙️ Lizzie Twacthman joins our exploration of the farthest point from the bright center of our favorite galaxy far, far away.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Some folks are in space for the benefit of nobody” (SB Nation, 2015)  Our disappointment that Chewbacca’s family didn’t show up in Solo, but at least we got L3-37, who was great.  High praise for the animated segment, marking our introduction to Boba Fett and the return of Luke’s awesome yellow jacket.  Dihann Carroll was 43 years old in that erotic VR helmet sequence.  Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers of the Star Wars Holiday Special and other spinoffs.  ****  “Star Wars Holiday Special” © 1978 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #nelvana

🎄🐭 It’s the one with the mouse. Turn back the clock till it goes kerplunk — or kerplooey — to make some time for Rankin/Bass’s 1974 retelling of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas from the perspective of the mouse and his know-it-all nerdy son.  🎙️ Joey O. is in the Advent Calendar House to do what’s necessary, ’cause even a miracle needs a hand.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The worst thing we’ve broken that ruined multiple peoples’ day.  We prepared for this episode by listening to Green Day’s “Kerplunk!”  South Park’s cover of “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand.”  A young Julia Stiles in a 1990s Apple Jacks cereal commercial.  Dusty Rhodes’s “Hard Times” promo.  ****  “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” © 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #rankinbass

🕎 Hanukkah is here, so here’s a 1995 special starring sock puppets hanging out with Mr. Miyagi, the dad from Growing Pains, and the mayor of Gotham City.  🎙️ Sarah Shay returns to the Advent Calendar House to reintroduce me to “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah,” which miraculously brings together Pat Morita, Alan Thicke, and Lloyd Bochner as both dinner guests and computer-generated, one-dimensional superheroes.  There’s now a better copy of “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” on YouTube. The one we watched for this podcast was from some guy holding his iPad’s camera up to a TV.  Check out Sarah’s albums: “You Have Queer Street Cred” and “The Shay & Shay Radio Hour.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Shari Lewis’s amazing single-color red dreamcoat and stylin’ menorah.  Alan Thicke on “Celebrity Family Feud.”  “Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio,” an earlier Halloween special also featuring Alan Thicke.  Charlie Horse’s prize-winning superhero, the stuff of someone’s very specific nightmares.  They almost make it through a whole Hanukkah special without mentioning Christmas, but blow it at the end for no reason.  ****  “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” © 1995 8 Candles Production, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #hanukkah #puppets

🎄 From the author of “The Wizard of Oz” comes one of the craziest Santa origin stories ever.  🎙️ Brandon Medley and Paxton Holley stop by to witness Rankin/Bass go off the rails in its last-ever stop motion animated Christmas special, 1985’s “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, based on the 1902 book by L. Frank Baum, which explains a lot.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Santa Claus’s growth to manhood, from J.D. Roth to Mumm-ra, and the rest of the Thundercats are here, too!  L. Frank Baum’s original book on the Internet Archive, in ebook, PDF, and audiobook format.  Pax’s review of the book and “Road to Oz,” which also features Santa.  Baum’s sequel story, “A Kidnapped Santa Claus.”  King Awgwa looks like My Pet Monster.  The Most Pagan Christmas Special You Will Ever See (Fit for Dragon Con, 2013)  That’s not Santa in “Return to Oz.” That’s the Shaggy Man.  A Doom Metal Tribute to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.  ****  “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” © 1985 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #rankinbass

🎄 Let’s have a good, old-fashioned Christmas down on the farm in 1987’s “A Garfield Christmas Special,” featuring the voices of Squiggy and Ursula.  🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes Jeff Somogyi as we contemplate lasagna as a Christmas food, go long on the dinner prayer, and wonder how Binky, “The Clown Who Saved Christmas,” saved Christmas.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Joey O. interviews Gregg Berger, the voice of Odie.  Dinosaur Dracula identifies all the presents in Garfield’s dream.  Better “Weird Al” Yankovic Christmas song: “Christmas at Ground Zero” or “The Night Santa Went Crazy”?  The simultaneously best and worst line in the history of animated Christmas specials for children: “Whoever invented Christmas trees should be drug out into the street and shot.”  Jeff wanted a ringtone of that blaring trumpet when Garfield looks down from the top of the Christmas tree, so here it is!  ****  “A Garfield Christmas Special” © 1987 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #garfield #comics

🎄 In 1987, the California Raisins missed their bus, then made a sleigh out of garbage and flew it into space.  🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes Erin Evans, Joey O., and Emily Rowley to join in the raisiny reindeer games that make up Will Vinton’s “Claymation Christmas Celebration,” the greatest holiday special out of all holiday specials hosted by clay dinosaurs.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  RIP Will Vinton (1947–2018), the creator of “capital-C” Claymation who may or may not have inspired Leap Day William, and who was still alive when we recorded this.  Vinton also worked special effects on the EPCOT attraction “Captain EO.”  Johnny Counterfit, the voice of Rex (and not at all Johnny Arcade), wrote a JFK time-travel novel.  Rex and Herb’s original appearance in “Dinosaur,” which was later included in a “direct-to-video thing” starring Fred Savage.  Related: “I Just Realized Why We Are All Mean,” by Jon Bois.  “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” from “The Adventures of Mark Twain,” featuring Tim Conner (Herb) as a 3-headed alien in St. Peter’s Place at the wrong “Heaven.”  The California Raisins’ cancelled Nintendo game: “The Grape Escape.”  The California Prunes on “The Simpsons.”  This special ends with a reference to the grossly enormous Mr. Creosote from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.”  ****  “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration” © 1987 Will Vinton Productions, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #claymation

🎄 Merry Christmas, little Zachary. Enter the void as time, space, and reality blur around the 1979 TV special accompaniment to my favorite Christmas album of all time, “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.”🎙️ Carlin Trammel and Bill Hanstock join the celebration of peace on Earth and good will to men, women, chickens, bears, Dizzy Gillespie, and Missy Piggy.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Bill’s Uncle Deadly tattoo.  Pro-wrestler and “Muppets Most Wanted” cast member Hornswoggle’s Muppet tattoo.  The Muppet Show Season 4 DVD promised at 2009’s D23 Expo, but which never came.  Miss Piggy makes a sex joke, lest we forget the “Muppet Show” pilot opened with “Sex and Violence.”  John Denver’s linear notes for the album’s 1996 re-release cite the Muppets as an inspiration for writing “Alfie, the Christmas Tree.”  “A Baby Just Like You is one endpoint of the John Denver Christmas song emotional spectrum. The other is “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).”  “I Will Wait for You” in “Futurama.”  Jesus Christ has His own entry on Muppet Wiki.  Zachary Denver in the audience during “Silent Night,” and at his father’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony in 2014.  Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold sing “When the River Meets the Sea” at Jim Henson’s memorial service.  ****  “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together” © 1979 John Jer Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #muppets

🎄 It’s mime time at the Most Magical Place on Earth in 1978’s “Christmas at Walt Disney World.”  🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive drop in to watch Shields and Yarnell as the most 1978 couple imaginable, Pablo Cruise and their indifference to help a screaming woman escape from pirates, Phyllis Diller in the world’s poofiest princess dress, the Doritos guy as a wildly off-model Geppetto, Dee from “What’s Happening?” as an ungrateful passenger in a magical pumpkin coach, and Broadway’s original Annie singing Christmas carols with surprisingly reverent Disney villains.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Map of what Walt Disney World looked like in 1978.  Vault Disney.  How “My Favorite Things” became a Christmas song.  The opening music, “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” or as I know it best, Jerry “The King” Lawler’s theme music.  Shields and Yarnell on “American Bandstand” (1976)  Drew eating a gigantic spoonful of mashed potatoes at the Liberty Tree Tavern.  Photos from the long-abandoned Discovery Island in 2009.  Disney’s short-lived plans of reopening Discovery Island as an attraction based on Myst.  One-day admission to the Magic Kingdom plus a book of attraction tickets in 1978 cost $13, according to this Ticket Price Guide.  “Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain.”  Winnie-the-Pooh wearing a honey pot on his head.  Giant, smoking cigars in a theme park parade for children.  The (1970s) “Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World.”  “Kraft Salutes Walt Disney World’s 10th Anniversary” (1981)  The Hourchive on Walt Disney World: Part 1 and Part 2.  ****  “Christmas at Walt Disney World” © 1978 Walt Disney Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #disney

🎄 Lace up your ice skates for a look at 3 classic holiday commercials starring 3 different iterations of McDonald’s clown in charge: “Happy Holidays” (the ice skating one), “Star Wish,” and “Runaway.”  🎙 Joey O. swoops in just in time to convince me not to leave home and run away to McDonaldland, which is honestly tempting.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Grape jelly is good on Sausage McMuffins. Try it.  McDonald’s Wiki, which exists, runs down all 7 versions of the ice skating commercial. Yes, there are 7, and they’re all on YouTube:  1982: the original, with King Moody as Ronald and the “You Deserve a Break Today” jingle variant.  1983: with the “McDonald’s and You” jingle variant.  1984: with the “It’s a Good Time for the Great Taste” jingle variant.  1986: with Squire Fridell as Ronald, the version I remember most.  1988: with Fridell and the original jingle.  1990: with Fridell and the “Food, Folks and Fun” jingle variant.  1991: with Jack Doepke as Ronald, bad lighting, and “The Wish that Changed Christmas.”  King Booker.  Squire Fridell as Ronald McDonald in “Mac and Me” and Paul Rudd’s ongoing prank on Conan O’Brien.  Grimace’s last appearance as of this recording was at Dodger Stadium, though as we know, nothing can kill the Grimace.  The “World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’s” in Orlando, home to an animatronic Mac Tonight that hangs from the ceiling.  ****  “Happy Holidays,” “Star Wish,” and “Runaway” © McDonald’s.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #1990s #commercials

🎄 We dug down like dogs to the bottom of the VHS bargain bin and found “Jingle Bell Rap,” an overlooked special from 1991 that had all the potential to become a Christmas classic, but none of the airtime.  🎙️ Chad Young drops in to introduce me to this special from Perennial Pictures, a studio that managed to spend the entire 1990s producing a whole slew of holiday specials I never knew about till now.  📺 You can watch “Jingle Bell Rap” in Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Jingle Bell Rap” on Perennial Pictures.  Fruity Pebbles’ “Master Rapper” commercial.  Shout-out to the Cult Film Club and “Plot in 60 Seconds.”  Rollover’s dad looks like angry Homer Simpson.  Ralph Wiggum’s heart breaks in slow motion.  New Kids on the Block perform “Funky Funky Xmas” on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”  ****  “Jingle Bell Rap” © 1991 Perennial Pictures.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s

🎄 Extend your ears as we revisit a lesser-known Rankin/Bass special from 1977 that unravels a new side quest to the Nativity story.  🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Brandon Medley droop in to salute “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey,” the first of a Christmas donkey double feature.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Roger Miller performing “Do Wacka Do” in 1966 with another guitarist, “Stubbs,” who’s wearing a Batman T-shirt.  Roger Miller’s “Whistle Stop” in Disney’s “Robin Hood” is secretly the Hamster Dance.  Tilly’s ascension back to heaven is strikingly similar to Poochie’s exit from “The Itchy and Scratchy Show.”  Mary has the Glow from “The Last Dragon.”  Annalee Santa dolls.  ****  “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey” © 1977 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #rankinbass #nativity

🎄 Part 2 of our Christmas donkey double feature presents a completely different origin story of the donkey who carried Mary to Bethlehem.  🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Brandon Medley return to talk “The Small One,” Don Bluth’s last Disney project, released in front of the 1978 re-release of “Pinocchio.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original book, “The Small One: A Story for Those Who Like Christmas and Small Donkeys.”  “Dragon’s Lair.”  The Land Before Time toys from Pizza Hut.  Mouse in Transition: When Everyone Left Disney (Cartoon Brew, 2014)  Don Bluth visited Walt Disney Animation Studios 40 years later.  Assistant director Richard Rich went on to direct all 8 Swan Princess movies. (I’m sorry if you just learned there are 8 Swan Princess movies.)  One piece of silver, adjusted for inflation.  Edits for home video include the Merchants’ song, and the Star of Bethlehem getting extra rays of light to look less cross-shaped. To avoid too much foreshadowing, I guess.  Gordon Jump, the voice of Joseph, was on a very special episode of “Diff’rent Strokes.” Yeah. Sorry.  ****  “The Small One” © 1978 Walt Disney Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #disney #nativity

🎄 Coming to you from Gotham City, it’s the podcast nobody wanted to see, but everyone will hear.  🎙️ Jay from the Purple Stuff Podcast and Joey O. drop in to spend Christmas with the Joker on a 1992 episode of “Batman: The Animated Series.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The crowdsourced origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.  More discussion on “Christmas with the Joker” on Batman: The Animated Podcast and The Arkham Sessions.  Gotham City is in New Jersey.  Mark Hamill’s original performance as Ferris Boyle in “Heart of Ice.”  “Comic Book: The Movie.”  Mark Hamill’s longtime obsession with David Letterman.  Charles Manson apparently spent this Christmas at Arkham Asylum before spending a later Christmas in Nebraska on “South Park.”  Joker’s “Laffy” hand puppet reminds us of Señor Wences. His upside-down mouth puppet is even weirder.  Betty Blooper looks like Toot from “Drawn Together.”  Of course the Joker is hiding out at the Laffco Toy Factory. Look at it!  ****  “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Christmas with the Joker” © 1992 Warner Bros.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #warnerbros #dc #comics

🎄 Hang on to your creepy mistletoe hat as we hit the Bayside Mall for a 2-part “Saved by the Bell” Christmas special from 1991.  🎙️ Chad Young and Tommy Coombs drop in to watch Zack get way too shook upon learning the latest girl of his dreams is homeless.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Chad’s write-up on “Home for Christmas” from 2013.  That time WWE’s Daniel Bryan got fired for choking out an announcer.  Puppy Surprise, the dog that’s pregnant.  Dustin Diamond’s terrible heel turn on “Celebrity Fit Club.”  Homer Simpson beat Screech to the “What’s the number for 911?” joke by a year in “Bart vs. Thanksgiving.”  Who waits until Christmas Eve to buy a tree?  The Evolution of the Zack Morris phone.  Funny or Die: The Time Zack Morris Gave Himself A Homeless Girl For Christmas.  ****  “Saved by the Bell” and “Home for Christmas” © 1991 National Broadcasting Company, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #savedbythebell

🎄 Listen in as we gush over a 1977 Muppet Christmas special that probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves.  🎙️ Emily Rowley drops in to marvel at Kermit riding a bicycle, watch a drum roll out a door too many times to count, and rock out to the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. Pa would’ve loved this podcast.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Muppet Wiki has the lowdown of all 5 cuts of this.  The official outtake reel and the one with the drum roll.  Of Muppets and Men: The Making of The Muppet Show.  The Christmas Price Index.  The “ass sliding” scene from “Rad.”  Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold sing “When the River Meets the Sea” at Jim Henson’s memorial.  The Can’t Wait for Christmas podcast on Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas.  ****  “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” © 1977 The Jim Henson Company.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #muppets #giftofthemagi

🎄 Tonight in the Advent Calendar House, we’re doing the same thing we do every night… watchin’ a bunch of holiday specials!  🎙️ Joey O. and special guest Joey Letson from The Animanicast joins the mission to apply North Pole to Pinky and the Brain’s 1996 Christmas special, probably the closest the lab mouse duo ever got to actually taking over the world.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  This special won the 1996 Primetime Emmy award for outstanding animated program.  Joey O. interviewed Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche.  The Animanicast interview with Maurice LaMarche.  “Powerhouse,” Warner Bros.’ go-to “assembly line” music.  io9 ranked this episode dead last among the Brain’s plans to take over the world.  ****  “A Pinky and the Brain Christmas” © 1996 Warner Bros.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #warnerbros

🎄 By the power of Grayskull, the only holiday podcast with Battle Damage action is back to be nice, kind, and wonderful to 1985’s He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special, in which Skeletor’s heart grows three sizes.  🎙️ Brandon Medley and Chad Young are here to help me identify everyone at Eternia’s first ever Christmas party. And Brandon’s dog stops by because he heard us talking about the Beast Monster!  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  He-Man and She-Ra are between 18 and 21 years old and gave children unreasonable expectations of what they’d look like when they grow up.  Greyskull Wiki has an entire section of Queen Marlena’s entry dedicated to speculating about her religion.  The Monstroids exist because the makers of He-Man toys want you to believe giant robots that can transform are evil.   Skeletor and Hordak are basically Miracle Max and his wife from “The Princess Bride.”  This may have been the first time I’d ever seen someone yank off Santa’s beard.  ****  “He-Man/She-Ra: A Christmas Special” © 1985 Mattel, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #filmation

🎄 Live from the Turducken Hunger Games comes Part 1 of a Disney Christmas double feature featuring Mickey Mouse and his pals.  🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive help me attempt to make sense of time, space, and the Disney fowl food chain as we watch Disney’s 1999 direct to video Christmas special.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Donald Duck’s comically enormous, fanmade family tree.  Happy Duck to the Future Day!  The “Quack Pack” intro will tell you everything you need to know about “Quack Pack.”  Donald Jr., a tiny, semi-realistic duck introduced in “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”  The Fab Five supposedly live in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, on the Pacific coast.  Pete has been a cat this entire time!  Pete smokes a cigar, something since reportedly banned from Disney movies, despite still showing up in Disney movies.  Recycled animation alert: Mickey’s wacky, tongue-waggling dance first appeared in 1942’s “Mickey’s Birthday Party.”  ****  “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas” © 1999 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #disney #christmaseveryday #giftofthemagi

🎄 In Part 2 of our Disney Christmas double feature, Mickey and the rest of the Fab Five — and Daisy, who’s somehow less important than the dog — enter the third-dimension.  🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive return for “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas,” the main mouse’s first 3D-animated special.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  If you haven’t been to a Disney theme park in the last year or two, Mickey has a different face now.  The hippo and crocodile from “Fantasia” have names.  Chuck McCann (Santa) was the Dreamfinder in the original Journey Into Imagination.  The grumpy dog who keeps showing up only to get beverages spilled on him is the Stan Lee of the Mickey Mouse universe, which I only mention because we recorded this the day after Stan died.  Between the Goofys and the Plutos of this universe, there are talking reindeer who can own pets.  The Hidden Mickeys Podcast.  ****  “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas” © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #2000s #disney

🎄 Tune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pee-wee Herman’s Christmas special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming.  🎙️ Erin Evans, Lindy Kempe, and Joey O. call into the Podcast Phone to embrace the wackiest holiday party of 1988.  📺 The “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” is available for free on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one win was against the SuperSonics, possibly (but probably not) on Ice Cube’s “Good Day.”  One commercial break includes a bizarre Pringles commercial starring a young Brad Pitt.  “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.”  When did fruitcake become a punchline? Christmas Past has something of an answer. Or is fruitcake a byproduct of the Joys of Jell-O era? The working script and storyboards for this special.  Who mailed Grace Jones to the Reagan White House?  Pee-wee in “Back to the Beach.”  The King of Cartoons’ cartoon: 1936’s “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.”  My feelings about snow mirror this one, particular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, published 5 days after this special aired.  The awkward moment when we realize the Dinosaur Family has a pet dinosaur.  ****  “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” © 1988 Paul Reubens.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s

🎄 We unearthed a Christmas special so low-quality, it happens in a sewer.  🎙️ Shawn Robare from the Cult Film Club and Jonathan Zelenak from The Sewer Den drop in for a radically recollection of “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas,” a 1994 cash-grab video starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… or at least some version of them.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  About the Sewer Den, Jonathan’s massive TMNT collection, and his blog post about this special.  The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour.  The Turtles’ smiles look like they’re from Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” music video.  A 1975 anime version of “The Little Mermaid” had a not-at-all-coincidental resurgence around 1990.  Writer Tish Rabe also produced “Big Bird in China” and “3-2-1 Contact,” created The Cat in the Hat Learning Library after Dr. Seuss’s death, and has written over 160 children’s books.  Y’all want to watch 43 minutes of the Ninja Turtles on Oprah?  That time a warehouse that housed the Rock-afire Explosion actually exploded.  The only pizza place willing to appear in this special is Sbarro, which has come a long way since the Fat Boys’ “All You Can Eat.”  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Cookbook is a real book you should own.  The cheapest gifts we’ve ever gotten our parents from our elementary school Christmas bazaar.  Fun game: Sneak the “Wrap Rap” on a playlist in the middle of New Kids on the Block’s Christmas album and see if anyone notices.  ****  “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas” © 1994 Christopher Films, Inc. / Mirage Studios.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1990s #tmnt #comics

🎄 Remember ALF? He’s back, in podcast form!  🎙️ Jeff Somogyi drops by as we salute ALF’s two-part Christmas special from 1987, the single most depressing special starring a wisecracking alien puppet of all time.  🚨 Content Warning: In this Christmas special, the goofy alien with the jokes meets a terminally ill child and a man contemplating suicide.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The heartbreaking true story behind “ALF’s Special Christmas.”  A study in human ignorance: Gordon Shumway has a name, which he’s told everyone, yet everyone still calls him HEY ALIEN!  A study in willful alien ignorance: ALF opens everyone else’s Christmas gifts and succeeds in convincing me it’s because he doesn’t know how any of this works.  Talking ALF: The Storytelling Alien.  “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”  ****  “ALF’s Special Christmas” © 1987 Alien Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #alf

🎄 It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re celebrating with the first Christmas special I ever remember watching, from 1978.  🎙️ Erin Evans and Joey O. help bring Advent to a close as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street,” in which Big Bird worries Santa’s unfit for skinny chimneys, Mr. Hooper spends his Hanukkah saving Christmas, and we get a possible clue into how to get to Sesame Street.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  My taped copy of this is interrupted in the middle by a WHYY telethon with Philadelphia TV legend Ed Cunningham.  The Count’s amazing ice-skating cape.  The wibbly-wobbly physics of Oscar’s trash can.  Olivia married the Predator.  A cameo by Mr. Macintosh.  If you want to go read about Northern Calloway (David) and his off-screen troubles and tragic death, proceed with caution.  The adorable 2-year-old girl too little for her own vocabulary trying to explain that Santa pushes a magic button to go down chimneys is now in her 40s.  “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”  An oral history of Mr. Snuffleupagus’s revelation as not imaginary.  Oscar holds a broom like it’s Not His Broom.  Ernie’s pajamas look like the background of the “Trololo” video.  Joey makes my Christmas by assuring me I didn’t imagine “The Candy Apple News Company.”  ****  🏌️‍♂️ After This Episode:  Listen to my guest appearance on the Two Bad Neighbors podcast discussing my favorite Christmas-adjacent episode of The Simpsons, “Marge Be Not Proud.”  Then go relax or take a nap or something. Hope you enjoy your Christmas!  ****  “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street” © 1978 Children’s Television Workshop.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #muppets #giftofthemagi

💝 Love and dynamite are in the air as I introduce 2 guests to an early pilot of what would eventually become “The Muppet Show,” guest-starring a pregnant Mia Farrow.  🎙️ Joey O. and Brian Arnold drop by as we fall head over heels for “The Muppets Valentine Show,” a 1974 TV special that misinformed me about where babies come from.  📺 You can find “The Muppets Valentine Show” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Muppets Valentine Show” on Muppet Wiki.  Jim Henson’s Red Book entry about getting this pilot green-lit by some guy at ABC named “Mike” Eisner.  We quickly touch on Crazy Harry’s original incarnation as “Crazy Donald” and then immediately drop it.  Miss Mousey.  George the Janitor is simultaneously UHF’s Stanley Spadowski and WWE’s Perry Saturn.  George and Mildred At the Dance.  Droop in the “Cosby Show” episode, “Cliff’s Nightmare.”  The first appearance of Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle.  “You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.”  “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” and the Looney Tunes musical bomb gag.  Brian’s blog post about “The Candy Apple News Company.”  ****  “The Muppets Valentine Show” © 1974 The Jim Henson Company.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #valentinesday #muppets

🎃 Put out the oars and surrender yourself to the mercy of the rivers of time as they take us back to Garfield’s terrifying 1985 Halloween special.🎙️ Jeff Somogyi joins us to celebrate the special that turned a generation into scaredy cats.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Jim Davis wanted Garfield’s Halloween Adventure to “at least scare 4-year-olds” (The A.V. Club, 2014)  Samples of the comic book adaptation, “Garfield in Disguise,” from Rotten Ink and Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks, including even creepier drawings of the old man and pirate ghosts.  The first appearance of Binky the Clown!  The time a raccoon broke into Jeff’s attic and left a hornet’s nest inside a Nativity scene shepherd.  Speaking of attics, the Pink Panther advertising Owens Corning fiberglass insulation.  The Roy Ogle of “Roy Ogle’s roots” was a plant breeder at Clemson. They’re sweet potatoes.  The black cat pajamas may be a callback to the killer panther from 1984’s “Garfield in the Rough,” another good special to put on if you want to give your kids nightmares.  Was the ghost of Jon’s grandfather watching all the Christmas festivities in that special?  C. Lindsay Workman (Old Man) as Garfield’s grandfather in “Garfield on the Town” and God in “Garfield: His 9 Lives.”  The “double burn” glowing effect used on the ghosts reminds us of the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence of Fantasia.  We had to ask: Did Garfield and Odie really survive the night, or is everything thereafter really Garfield Minus Garfield?  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s Halloween Pumpkin Pails (1986)  ****  “Garfield’s Halloween Adventure” ©1985 United Feature Syndicate, Inc./Anderson Digital.  Closing Music: “Witch’s Night Out,” performed by Razoreater, written by Peter Rochon.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1980s #halloween #garfield #comics